Deep South Specialties, Incorporated Postcard Collection PI/2008.0001
In 1952, Henry Wyatt Clowe, owner and operator of a packaging equipment and material business in Jackson, heard of a new printing method that produced shiny photographic images on postcards. Seeing a new business opportunity, he hired a photographer to produce images of familiar Gulf Coast scenes and other Mississippi and Alabama landmarks. For the next thirty-three years, Clowe printed the postcards under the name Deep South Specialties, Incorporated, and sold them in dime stores and motel lobbies across Mississippi. In 1982, Clowe estimated that he had sold millions of postcards during the previous three decades.
It is not clear when Deep South Specialties, Incorporated, ceased production. The last inventory is dated 1983, and the company was not listed in the Jackson City Directory after 1985. Henry Wyatt Clowe did continue to run his packaging equipment business until his retirement in 2004. He passed away on October 26, 2006.
Read MoreIn 1952, Henry Wyatt Clowe, owner and operator of a packaging equipment and material business in Jackson, heard of a new printing method that produced shiny photographic images on postcards. Seeing a new business opportunity, he hired a photographer to produce images of familiar Gulf Coast scenes and other Mississippi and Alabama landmarks. For the next thirty-three years, Clowe printed the postcards under the name Deep South Specialties, Incorporated, and sold them in dime stores and motel lobbies across Mississippi. In 1982, Clowe estimated that he had sold millions of postcards during the previous three decades.
It is not clear when Deep South Specialties, Incorporated, ceased production. The last inventory is dated 1983, and the company was not listed in the Jackson City Directory after 1985. Henry Wyatt Clowe did continue to run his packaging equipment business until his retirement in 2004. He passed away on October 26, 2006.
Image Arrangement and Numbering
The original postcards were arranged according to unique inventory number assigned by Deep South Specialties. Descriptive information enclosed in quotation marks was provided from captions printed on the reverse of the postcards.
Technical Details
Original scans: The original scans of the Deep South Specialties, Incorporated Postcard Collection were made between 2013 and 2017, according to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Board of Trustees' approved imaging procedures, following ANSI/AIIM recommended practice. The postcards were scanned front and back as uncompressed, 24-bit RGB TIFF files at 600 pixels per inch.
Conversion: For Web display, the original scans of the Deep South Postcard Collection were converted to Zoomify JPEG files by the Electronic Archives Section in 2017.
Rights Management
All copyright interests were transferred to MDAH upon donation of the collection. MDAH asks that each image used in a presentation, display, or publication be accompanied by the following credit statement:
Credit: Courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Copy Availability
High-resolution TIFFs of the images may be purchased from MDAH. The MDAH Public Order procedure and fee schedule apply. Consult the Photoreproduction and Digital Imaging policy or contact MDAH Reference Staff for order options as well as information on how to obtain and complete the necessary Public Order forms: 601-576-6876 or refdesk@mdah.ms.gov.